The Embrace Of Green: Reviewing ‘Poison Ivy’ #22

Sometimes the consequences of our actions come back to haunt us. Other times they end up haunting the whole world.

Unfortunately for Pamela Isley, her wins have world-altering consequences in Poison Ivy #22, the beginning of the climax of the series’ second year. A story seeded (sorry) for months, brought to life by G. Willow Wilson, Haining, Arif Prianto, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

After spending time in the past, giving us the ‘definitive’ origin story for Ivy, the time has come for the story to focus again on the present. One that sees the evil Jason Woodrue (Floronic Man, aka Pamela’s manipulative scummy former Professor and abuser) returned and ready to end Ivy and the world. Naturally, that means lots of threats and fighting as the story leans heavily into the horror that has done the series well, along with big action.

Wilson continues to do such a tremendous job balancing the various elements of this series. Never losing the character spark that keeps it fun and relatable and grounded (in a sense). No matter how much the science and eco-horror comes pouring in, or how much big comic action fills the pages. It all balances evenly, which is why this series is already in the twenties of issues after starring as a mini-series.

Ivy is a powerful character, naturally so with her connection to the Green and all the nature powers that come with that. Yet, Wilson makes sure that while she is powerful, things are not just easily brushed off. Whether it was the Lamia infected souls or the powered up Woodrue, it’s the right level of struggle. Probably helps that since Woodrue was reborn through Ivy and ripped out of her body, she’s not at her peak.

Except, she is. All this time we’ve been approaching this point of Ivy really diving deep into the Green and achieving ‘god-like’ — for lack of better terms — powers. Where that will go (with the cliffhanger we’re left with) should prove to be quite illuminating.

We get an artistic shift here as Haining steps in to bring the story to life. Right away the very rough, exaggerated, yet still realistic and powerful horror vibes are captured. Just like what we’ve seen in the series previously. There is a sort of whimsical feeling to the whole thing that meshes well with that darker tough serious tone, creating something so balanced.

One of the keys for stories like these is how the paneling is handled. Standard square panel types can tell the story, but to really hit the highs, things have to be different.  Haining does that very well, with panels of varying sizes that slip over each other and stack up to create more depth and allow certain story moments more room to breathe or expand. A couple of the first panels really hit home just how big and scary and gross Woodrue is right now, giving us accurate perspective.

Color wise there is great continuity since Prianto is still here to bring those vibrant but heavy colors every time. These palates shift a bit with each artist that comes into the book, but they maintain a lot of the same energy and scale. Bringing lots of shadows and darker colors to the page so that things have the right horror and ominous vibes. Peppered in are the more superpower comic stylings where these fantastical characters have striking hair colors, skin colors, costumes, and other bits of them that bring the vibrance.

Visually, it’s not just the pencils or the colors that are needed to help sell the horror vibes. Were the letters just standard bubbles and caption boxes, it would work, but it would not feel like everything is complete. Otsmane-Elhaou doesn’t go that route. From Woodrue’s green jagged bubbles to the orangeish-yellow tones of Ivy’s bubbles and even the caption boxes of hers that match that tone (or slip into the shadows). All of it helps sell the overall visual energy but also gives the characters very unique voices that we can begin to piece together in our heads.

Poison Ivy #22 is now available from DC Comics.